How to think, feel and act as those who are both perfect saints and wicked sinners How am I meant to feel as a Christian? You can go to an evangelical church on a Sunday and be told: "Christian, you are loved by God, no matter what you've done. God could not love you more than he does." You can go to another evangelical church and be told: "You're a wretched sinner". The emphasis can feel very different, and yet both churches are teaching truth. Holding both truths together in balance can be tricky but it's essential for healthy Christian living. Overemphasising one at the expense of the other causes all sorts of problems. Perfect Sinners will help us keep the balance, as we distinguish between our "status" before God and our "walk" with him.

Unique in all of literature, the Confessions combines frank and profound psychological insight into Augustine's formative years along with sophisticated and beguiling reflections on some of the most important issues in philosophy and theology. The Confessions discloses Augustine's views about the nature of infancy and the acquisition of language, his own sinful adolescence, his early struggle with the problem of evil, his conversion to Christianity, his puzzlement about the capacities of human memory and the nature of time, and his views about creation and biblical interpretation. The essays contained in this volume, by some of the most distinguished recent and contemporary thinkers in the field, insightfully explore these Augustinian themes not only with an eye to historical accuracy but also to gauge the philosophical acumen of Augustine's reflections.